{"id":62645,"date":"2026-01-05T08:44:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/?p=62645"},"modified":"2026-01-05T13:51:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T18:51:23","slug":"hare-quoted-on-trumps-venezuela-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/2026\/01\/05\/hare-quoted-on-trumps-venezuela-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Hare Quoted on Trump\u2019s Venezuela Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Amb. Paul Hare<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an article written by Matthew Ward Agius for Deutsche Welle titled What is behind Trump’s ouster of Venezuela’s Maduro?<\/em>, published on January 3, 2026, Professor Paul Webster Hare<\/span><\/a>, master lecturer at the Pardee School and <\/span>former British ambassador to Cuba, discussed t<\/span>he Trump administration\u2019s escalating military pressure on Venezuela. While recent actions signal that regime change is now a central U.S. objective, the motivations behind the campaign may be narrower than early speculation suggested.<\/p>\n

According to Hare, the White House did not initially enter Trump\u2019s second term seeking to remove President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. Instead, Hare argues, Washington\u2019s early strategy focused on pragmatic bargaining,<\/p>\n

\n

I don\u2019t think that was the objective in January…. The idea was to do a deal on deportations with Maduro, maybe get some oil concessions for Americans\u2026 which would allow him to remain in power.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That approach appears to have shifted following public remarks by Trump\u2019s chief of staff, who openly framed U.S. attacks on Venezuelan vessels as a means of forcing Maduro\u2019s capitulation. While some analysts see the campaign as part of a broader effort to reassert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere, or even as a prelude to pressure on Cuba, Hare downplays the likelihood of wider regional intervention,<\/p>\n

\n

Maduro is illegitimate, but I think it\u2019s seen much more as a special case… I don\u2019t think it would be followed on with further aggression to other countries.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hare suggests that, rather than signaling a sweeping hemispheric strategy, the administration\u2019s actions reflect a focused concern with the legality of Maduro\u2019s continued rule, shaped by shifting political calculations in Washington. In this reading, Venezuela stands apart from other regional cases, even as the administration\u2019s rhetoric and tactics mark a sharp escalation in U.S.\u2013Venezuela relations.<\/p>\n

The full article can be read here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paul Webster Hare<\/span><\/a> is a master lecturer at the <\/span>Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies<\/span><\/a>. He served as British Ambassador to Cuba from 2001 to 2004 and also represented the U.K. to the European Union in Brussels, New York, Portugal, and Venezuela as deputy head of mission. Hare has extensively written about Cuba for renowned news outlets including <\/span>The Financial Times<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>The Atlantic<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Newsweek<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>The Huffington Post<\/span><\/i>. He is also the co-editor of the <\/span>Palgrave Handbook of Diplomatic Reform and Innovation<\/span><\/i><\/a>, which analyzes current practices of diplomacy and proposes practical solutions to improve diplomatic outcomes.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an article written by Matthew Ward Agius for Deutsche Welle titled What is behind Trump’s ouster of Venezuela’s Maduro?, published on January 3, 2026, Professor Paul Webster Hare, master lecturer at the Pardee School and former British ambassador to Cuba, discussed the Trump administration\u2019s escalating military pressure on Venezuela. While recent actions signal that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25562,"featured_media":3910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8410],"tags":[9544,9529,1837,10304,11340,8539,11516,12649,12289,9527,12560,13280,8372],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25562"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62645"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62653,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62645\/revisions\/62653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}